Watching Lake Superior ice at Isle Royale National Park, counting sea turtles at Dry Tortugas National Park, and road work woes for Scotty's Castle visitors at Death Valley National Park are just some of the other stories around the National Park System this week.

Cold, snow, and ice aren’t the only backdrops to a winter’s visit to the National Park System. There’s a flip side to the Glaciers, Yellowstones, and Mount Rainiers of winter park vacations. They’re found in the Caribbean, south Florida, and even Nevada and Arizona.

Before there was a national park, there was borax mining, ore wagons, and mules. Today you can see some of the wagons in Death Valley National Park, and if you're in the right spot at the right time, perhaps some mules running wild.

With Congress at odds over whether to pass a Continuing Resolution to keep the federal government in business, National Park Service and concessions staff were preparing Monday for possible closure of the National Park System.

Just how big is Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve? To give you an idea, check out the accompanying map. It shows how Wrangell-St. Elias would swallow a number of parks you might have considered to be large themselves.

Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico is home to both outstanding archeological resources and an increasingly rare treasure—dark nights that allow for outstanding viewing of the night skies. The park has just become one of only a dozen
Dark Sky Park's recognized around the world by the non-profit International Dark Sky Association (IDA).

Heading to Death Valley National Park any time soon? If so, and you're planning to explore some of the more remote areas of the park, you should know that a good handful of roads have been washed away by unusually heavy (for Death Valley) July rains.